RELATIVITY
Southern Premiere
by Cassandra Medley
May 30-June 24
Do you always do what Mom and Dad want you to do? What happens when what they want and what you need no longer jibe?
Those are the questions facing Kalima, a recent PhD graduate, who is forced to challenge her family's long-held beliefs. Her parents founded the Melanin Institute which claims African-Americans are genetically superior due to a greater amount of melanin in their skin. Kalima's mother wants her to write a book supporting melanin science; her mentor wants her to write an article debunking the theory. She can't do both. How do you choose between your job and your family? Can Kalima assert what she knows and still have a relationship with her mother?
"Relativity …offers dandy fringe benefits to go along with the heady science: …two especially dazzling scenes…the play is so entertaining." – The New York Times
"Relativity is a full-fledged drama bristling with challenging ideas and emotional complexity. It's a brave play. Not only has Medley set her drama, as one character puts it, `on the cut of the cutting edge' of research, but she's also grappling with the very touchy subject of reverse racism." – San Francisco Chronicle
Listen to an inteview with playwright, Cassandra Medley, about her play, Relativity, from NPR's Talk of the Nation, May 12, 2006.
This project is made possible by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project in cooperation with Southern Rep.
